Seriously
by misssoulsilver
Summary: A detective and her new, faithful dog - oh wait, it's a human, isn't it?
1. Chapter 1

Valencia Hunter, a blonde, dark eyed 27 year old detective, is on her way home after a long day at work. Nothing interesting, really, the most exciting case had to do with a common prank. Valencia honestly thought she would do something a bit more exciting than just false alarms and missing doughnuts. When she was a child, she solved a murder case, and put the murderer behind bars. That was far more exciting than what she had to do now.

She arrived at her apartment, parked, and went inside. Her day ended just as usual, dinner, teal hooks, and brain challenging games - to keep her mind sharp. She got into bed, thinking about what to do in her day off the following day. Every time she has a day off, she gets up, goes to the library, borrows a book, and goes to the local cafe for coffee and cake. After that, she spends the rest of the day watching movies at home. She thought her life very boring, and wanted to do something fun.

Maybe she would go the the pet store, get a cat or something… She dozed off.

The next day, determined not to make it as any other day, she got up, dressed, and went directly to the pet store. She walked in, immediately being greeted by a dark haired female. Valencia guessed the girl was around her age, give or take a few years.

"Hello, welcome!" said the girl, beaming at her.  
Valencia gave the girl a small smile.  
"Thank you. I will look around for a bit."

And so she did. She passed many pets, none of them catching her eye.

She goes to the dog section. A huge, black, bearlike hound, sitting in the far corner of the cage looks at her with beautiful grey eyes, and then goes back to staring at the floor. It looks so sad. Valencia puts her hand through the cage, the dog only glances at it. She goes to the shopgirl.

"I may have an interest in one dog... " says Valencia.  
"Take me to it, and then you'll meet him or her!" she replies cheerfully.

Valencia leads her to the dog, who was still staring at the floor. The shopgirl frowns at it.

"What's wrong?" asks Valencia, curious. The girl pauses.  
"Well, y'see, that dog is a stray. We found it three days ago, and it's been sitting in that corner ever since, not eating, but occasionally drinking some water. We don't even know if it's a boy or a girl," she replies. Valencia thought for a moment.  
"I'll take him," Valencia says at last. The dog looked up at her, confusion clear in its eyes. It was as though it knew what she was saying. The girl was surprised as well, but went with it.  
After purchasing everything she needed for her new dog, including the dog itself, of course, she thanked the girl and left.

As she walked home, the dog walking alongside her, the dog barely looked up, despite it being a sunny day, but seemed slightly happier to be outside. Valencia thought about what to name him. She noticed his padded paws as she watched him.

They got to her apartment, and the dog refused meals and drank little water, no matter how much Valencia pleaded. They spent the next couple of days together, in which Valencia tried to figure out the dog, and what she should call him.

One evening, she sat down on the floor with him and said, "You know, I think I'll call you Padfoot," to which his eyes widened and he bared his fangs.

What happened next was the most magical thing Valencia ever witnessed. The dog. Transformed. Into. A man.

The man had raven black hair that went to his elbows, and beautiful grey eyes that showed shock. Valencia got the impression that he was once handsome.

She recognized immediately who he was.

The escaped prisoner: Sirius Black.

"Sirius Black.  
No way.  
Not possible.  
Nuh uh.  
Just no.  
My eyes are playing tricks on me."

That's what was going through Valencia's head at that moment. She couldn't believe her eyes. There's no possible way a dog could transform into a human. Especially not a prisoner. Escaped prisoner. It's magic. But magic isn't real…  
Everything Valencia considered impossible just became possible.  
He towered over her, backing her into a wall.

"You mislead me, witch! I thought you were just a muggle!" he said, shaking with rage. Valencia hadn't the faintest clue of what a muggle was.  
"That's not a very nice thing to call someone, especially someone who took care of you," she replied with as much dignity as she could. Black's feature darted back to shock - then rage again.

"Don't lie! You're with the Ministry!" he looked quite demented.  
"I suppose you could say I'm 'with the Ministry', I'm with the MI6, and you're arrested," she replied as calmly as she could. Valencia felt very sorry for Black, he seemed to not know what to believe.  
"You're not… with the Ministry of Magic?" he asked slowly.  
"Magic? Of course not," she nearly smiled.  
"So then… Are you a muggle?" he asked.  
"A muggle?" confusion spread over Valencia's face again.  
"So you're not…" he seemed to be able to breathe again, "I'm sorry. Can you please just do one more thing for me? Please?"

Valencia felt a strange warmth. She thought for a bit.

"What is it?" she finally managed to ask.  
"Please don't tell anyone you saw me. I'm innocent, I swear," he said, and Valencia opened her mouth but he put a finger up to stop her. "They got the wrong man, I would never kill anyone like that. But I have to find my godson. He needs to know the truth, and I have to protect him from a certain man. I swear I'll repay you one day, but please don't tell anyone about me."

Valencia stared at him, looking into his eyes. They held nothing but honesty, and a bit of desperation. She couldn't help but believe him.

"I - yes. I won't tell anyone," she said at last. The man smiled brightly, looking 20 years younger. He hugged her tenderly, whispering, "thank you," softly.

He left, and Valencia sank to the floor, thinking about what just happened.


	2. Chapter 2

A year later…

Valencia went to the grocery store, noticing a black bearlike hound sitting on the bench outside. He seemed oddly familiar. She waved the thought away and went to purchase the groceries.  
She finished shopping, and stepped outside loaded with bags. In the place of the dog was a man - wearing a dark hoodie and sunglasses. Something clicked in her brain -

"Sirius!" she exclaimed. He put a finger to his lips to shush her.  
"Not now, let me help with those," he said, walking toward her and taking her groceries. She felt she could trust him.

They walked to her car. Sirius put the groceries in the trunk and sat in the passenger seat. Valencia started driving home with him.

"How are you?" he asked politely. Valencia glanced at him. He had short, shiny, silky looking curly hair, and looked much better groomed. Happier too, and his charming eyes still captivated her. He looked to be in his early thirties.  
"I am good, what about you?" she replied as casually as she could.  
"Good…" he trailed off.

A moments silence, then -

"I met my godson," he said.  
"What's he like?" asked Valencia.  
"Brave. Has a good heart, just like his parents," he replied.  
"Hmm.." said Valencia, "Care to explain what's going on?"

He looked at her, then said, "It's a long story."  
"I have time," she replied.

Sirius took a deep breath before he began.

"Magic exists. I am a wizard, and so is my grandson. His name is Harry Potter, and is 'The boy who lived' in our world because he banished an evil wizard when he was merely a year old - the wizard who killed his parents, James and Lily Potter. James and I were best friends in school, which is called Hogwarts - Britain's school of magic. He made me godfather to Harry. At one point, James and Lily got inside information that Voldemort - the evil wizard - was after them, and were forced into hiding. They wanted to make me Secret - Keeper - it's part of the enchantment that keeps them safe - but I thought it'd be a clever bluff to make Peter Pettigrew - one of our best friends - the Secret - Keeper instead. Pettigrew betrayed them. He betrayed JAMES," at that point, Sirius was shaking in anger. "I should have expected that, he always cowered behind people better than him. At one point it was us - James and me - but I suppose it wasn't enough, and he decided to join Voldemort's group - the Death Eaters. The slimy rat," he added as an afterthought. Valencia thought for a moment - trying to process his words. Then something clicked.

"Pettigrew - the one you were accused of killing - the one you went to jail for?" she blurted out.  
"That's the one," replied Sirius bitterly, "I wish I actually killed him."

Valencia had a sudden surge of anger towards Pettigrew. Her facial features probably changed to show anger, because Sirius looked slightly alarmed.

"Are… are you alright, lo-," he stopped himself from saying the final word. Nevertheless, Valencia's features softened, and she nodded.  
"So what happened the past year?" she asked.  
"Oh… that. Well, I turned into an animagus, the dog form you saw, and went to Hogwarts. There I met a cat, and managed to convince him to help me. Peter is also an animagus, a rat, funnily enough, so it was perfect that the cat was chasing him. Anyway, a bunch of stuff happened, some magical, others not so much, but Peter escaped and I bet he's with Voldemort now. I'm on the run, people still think I am guilty," he summarized.  
"Well then, that's… interesting," replied Valencia. Confusion must have flashed in her eyes for a second though, because Sirius smiled.  
"You'll understand better if you live with magic. Would you mind if I stayed with you? I have nowhere else to go, so.." said Sirius timidly.  
"Of course! I have a spare room," she replied.  
"Thank you so much," he said softly.

The beginning has just begun.


End file.
